E-Readers

Description:  "An e-book reader, also called an e-book device or e-reader, is an electronic device that is designed primarily for the purpose of reading digital books and periodicals and uses e-ink technology to display content to readers."  (From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_e-book_readers)  

Material Covered:  The Sony reader.




What I learned:  I learned that E-readers are light-weight and easy to get up and running.

Best Features:  I thought the best feature was being able to click on a word and find out what it means. Being able to download out of print books to the reader is also a mark on the plus side for purchasing an E-reader. If your bookshelves are full to overflowing then having E-books may be a plan as they would take up much less space in the bookcase.

Problems/Limitations:  The problem with E-readers is not to be able to hold the book or newspaper you are reading in your hands.  

What I would still like to learn:  I would like to use the reader to read a book to see if it is an option for me.

Memory Cards

Description:  A memory card (sometimes called a flash memory card or a storage card) is a small storage medium used to store data such as text, pictures, audio, and video, for use on small, portable or remote computing devices. From SearchStorage. 

Material Covered:  What memory cards are and how to use them.

What I learned:  I learned that when downloading photos to the memory card they cannot be in folders if you want to take the memory card to have prints made. The readers at the photo stores are not able to find the photos if they are in folders.

Best Features:  Small & light-weight and many photos can be saved on one memory card.

Problems/Limitations:  As the memory cards are small you have to be careful not to lose them. 

What I would still like to learn:  How long will a memory card last?

Picasa

Description:  Picasa is free photo editing software from Google that makes your pictures look great and is easy to use.

Material Covered: Downloading Picasa, editing photos, making photo collages, emailing photos, exporting photos and making slide shows with music.

What I learned:  Picasa is easy to use, just as advertised. It organizes all the photos on your computer so they are easy to find and edit. With this program I was able to edit, add effects, and make photo collages within hours of downloading the program. I think this is a great program and it is free. I currently use Photoshop for my photo editing and creating effects and it is an amazing program. Photoshop takes weeks and months to learn and is very expensive. Within minutes of watching the Picasa 5 minute introductory video you will be able to create very professional looking photos, photo collages, and slide shows using Picasa.  For videos, tutorials and help with the program visit Picasa and Picasa Web Albums Help.

Best Features:  The most outstanding feature of Picasa for me was being able to make photo collages. There is more than one option for the type of collage and it is easy to add or remove the photos that do not work.  Photoshop is an industry standard but in my books Picasa wins hands down for creating photo collages.

Problems/Limitations:  Picasa locates all the photos on the computer and puts them into folders. When setting up Picasa to locate photos there are two options. The first option searches My Documents, My Pictures and the Desktop for pictures. The second option searches the entire computer looking for pictures. When installing and setting up Picasa on my home computer I selected the first option and numerous folders with images appeared. Many of the folders' names I did not recognize. The reason for this is I had many images in my document folder for other school projects. All of the small, medium and large thumbnails images used in the Dreamweaver program were put into folders. These folders can be removed but this is time consuming. The program would be better if it had an option to bring in photos just from My Documents or just from My Pictures folders.

When creating the Alphabet collage I realized that some of the features I used in Photoshop would have come in handy. Aligning the photos used in the collage was difficult. In Photoshop you can align the photos by selecting them and choosing align bottom, top, left or right edges.

What I would still like to learn:  I really feel quite comfortable with the Picasa program and will continue to use the program and test out the various features. I would like to know how to make copies of the slide show that would play on the television.

My first slide show of the garden with music.

My second slide show of Autumn Leaves.

From Movies

Smart Phones

Description:  A smart phone is a device that lets you make telephone calls, but also adds in features that you might find on a personal digital assistant or a computer--such as the ability to send and receive e-mail and edit Office documents, for example. From About.com

A Different take on the Smart Phone - Enjoy

Material Covered:  Guest speakers from Best Buys demonstrated the Smart phones.

What I learned:  I learned that Smart phones are expensive with most plans costing $50 per month.  Smart phones are like mini computers and you can download many applications.  Getting to use the phones was very helpful and they do seem easy to use.

Best Features:  Lighter and much smaller to carry around than a lap-top computer.

Problems/Limitations:  The cost would be a limitation for me.  Smart Phones have lots of bells and whistles but since I have managed to get by without even a cell phone or lap top computer up to now I could not justify the expense.   

What I would still like to learn:  I would like to see how the new I-pad works. I think that would be useful for me instead of a Smart phone.  I also would like to see a comparison of the costs and features of the Smart phone compared to a lap top computer and a basic cell phone.  

Google Gmail

Description:  "Gmail is a free, advertising-supported webmail, POP3, and IMAP service provided by Google."  From en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Gmail.

Material Covered:  Google's approach to email; setting up a Gmail account; and getting started with Gmail.

What I learned:  I set up a Gmail account and I was able to create and organize my contact list, add contacts to my chat list, create labels, and chat with those in my contact list.  I have an E-mail account on my home computer and I am very comfortable using it for sending & receiving messages.  My home E-mail account does not have the chat feature. As I often hear about "Chats" from my nieces it was good to know how it works. 



Best Features:  I have not figured out how I can access my home E-mail except at home. For me the best feature of the Gmail account is that you can access your E-mail from any computer. 

Problems/Limitations:  The only problem for using Google Gmail is that it is a Google product and Google wants to be the "primary depository of all things digital about you".

What I would still like to learn:  I would like to learn how to access my home E-mail from other computers.  This would come in handy when travelling.

Print Screen

Description:  "Print screen is a keyboard function that takes a quick 'snapshot' of your computer screen, copying it to the clipboard. By pressing the print screen key, then opening a paint or image program, the screenshot can be pasted into the program as an image file. From there, it can be saved or printed. If you don’t need a snapshot of the entire screen, but only want an image of the active window, hold down the alt key while pressing the print screen key. This is a great way to save menu screenshots for instructional Web pages, making it easier for people to follow along when configuring software, for example." (From http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-print-screen.htm) 

Material Covered:  How to use the Print screen key.

What I learned:  How to take a picture of the computer screen and then edit it for use.

Here is an example of a Print screen that I have edited.

Best Features:  Being able to take snapshots of the computer screen is the best and only feature of the Print screen key.  Just learning how to use the Print screen was worth the price of the course. 

Problems/Limitations: The only problem is that Print screen seems to be a well hidden secret. 

What I would still like to learn:  Nothing more to learn as it is simple and easy to use. 

Wiki

Description:  A wiki is a website that allows the easy creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified mark-up language or a WYSIWYG text editor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki).



Material Covered:  What Wiki is and how to create a Wiki using wetpaint.  

What I learned:  I learned that Wiki is like Wikipedia and that the information in the Wiki is created by everyone. I could see many ways to use a Wiki. Pastoral Care committees at churches could use a Wiki to schedule meals or visits for those in need. This would save many E-mails and calls. For volunteers in the congregation without computer access, they need only phone the church office to find out when would be the best time to visit a shut-in. The Secretary could then check the Wiki and know that it is up to date as it is the only copy. He or she could then tell the person on the phone the days for which visits are needed and then sign that person up to provide a visit. 

Best Features:  Wiki's are easy to setup and use. There are three easy steps: Edit, Write and Save.

Problems/Limitations:  When too many people try to edit at the same time some of the information can be written over.  You have no idea who made the edit.

What I would still like to learn:  At the moment, I do not think I need to know anything more about Wiki.

E-Books

Description:  An eBook is an electronic version of a traditional print book.

Material Covered:  Downloading books from your local library and free books from Google; and the OverDrive Media Console application.

What I learned:  I learned how to download a book from Google.  I learned that the Thorold and St. Catharines libraries do not offer the downloading of books.

Best Features:  To be able to download audio books. I prefer to have the actual book to read but when in the car on long trips it really passes the time to listen to an audio book.

Problems/Limitations:  The main limitation at the present time is that the local libraries do not offer the option of downloading books.  The free books from Google often only have a few pages for you to read and not the entire book.

What I would still like to learn:  How to download e-books from the library.

Facebook

Description:  Facebook is a social networking website.

Material Covered:  What is Facebook; creating a Facebook page; setting up privacy settings, finding friends; creating photos and adding photos.

What I learned:  I already had a Facebook account which I do not use very often. I was really quite concerned about the privacy issues for Facebook. I learned how and what setting to use to ensure that my Facebook site has the maximum privacy settings. After setting up the Facebook account for the school project and seeing that there are many ways to keep it private I was able to adjust my privacy settings. This is very reassuring.

Best Features:  Being able to chat with my niece. I had never noticed the Chat box in the corner of the page before taking the course. Now several times I have seen the message from my niece and have been able to chat with her online. This method of communicating with teenagers works quite well.

Problems/Limitations:  Privacy issues even with the improved Privacy settings as there are ways to get around those settings. Once something is on the Web it is out there forever. For socializing I still prefer to talk to my friends on the phone or visit them in person. 

What I would still like to learn:  Why so many people love the FarmVille application on Facebook.

Digital Cameras

Description:  Digital cameras record images onto flash memory instead of onto film. 

Material Covered:  Guest speaker Photographer Peter Ferguson spoke on choosing digital cameras, the different settings on digital cameras and downloading photos to the computer.

What I learned:   When purchasing a digital camera there are three main questions to consider before making your decision.

1. How much can you afford to spend on the camera? Decide on your price range before going out to the store to shop for the camera.

2. The second question is the use of the camera. What kind of photos will you be taking with your camera? If you are taking nature photos you would need to have a zoom feature on your camera. To get really good photos you may need to purchase a Digital SLR camera so the lenses can be changed to add zoom lenses. Zoom lenses can be very expensive. Are you going to be taking photos of fast moving objects? For those types of photos you would need a Zoom range on the camera.

3. Are you going to be taking photos in low light -- for example, weddings in churches? To get really good photos in low light you would need to look for a camera that takes good photos in low light. There are a limited number of cameras that perform well in low light.  Best Cameras in Low Light review.

I also learned about Histogram settings. Histograms show the measurement of light and dark in a photo. If there is too much light the spikes of the histogram will all be to the right and if it is too dark the spikes of the histogram will all be to the left. I discovered on my camera settings that I can show the histogram on my camera display to help make adjustments before taking the photo.

Best Features:  The best feature of digital cameras is there is no film. You can view the pictures as you take them and delete those blurry ones. There is no waiting to take the entire roll of film before printing the photos. If you want a picture of your new kitten you can take the photo, download to the computer and E-Mail it to all your friends the same day you brought her home.

Problems/Limitations:  For me the only problem I had with my digital camera was getting used to taking photos without using a view finder.  

What I would still like to learn:  I would like to learn more about Histograms and how you can use them to make better photos. Also I would like to know more about what the different settings in my camera mean. I can go to the settings for the different functions but once I am in the various settings for that function I am not sure what the best setting would be for that function.